Month: August 1979

An overview of my 1979 trip to Mauritius, courtesy of the wonderfully hospitable Biltoo family, can be found by clicking here or below:

Here is an extract from my eighth letter, which is in effect my diary entry for 2 August 1979:

Yesterday we went to the Delaître’s house. The reason that we were invited really was that they have three sons of our own age, (18, 17, 16). The eldest boy has a dark room at home, and not only is photography a common interest… wait for it… he’s an ardent Zionist (shock horror) yes he definitely .wants to live in Israel and feels that that country is his calling. Unusual to say the least. (How many other Christian Mauritians are Zionists, I wonder?) Anyway, that aside, all in all we had a fascinating day and evening there.

I have two strong recollections about our time with the Delaître family. The first relates to the conversations about Israel and Zionism with the son. My political awakening had started around that year and I was questioning much about the status quo. Anil and I had several long discussions about politics before Mauritius and a great many while there. So I recall finding myself, in conversation with young Monsieur Delaître, arguing an equivocal line about Israel and the policies of its relatively new, hawkish government. I especially remember a conversation with Anil afterwards, in which we both bemoaned the impracticality of the more extreme positions, in which one side repeatedly questioned or denied Israel’s right to exist, while the more hawkish Israel-supporting line seemed immune to calls for Palestinian self-determination and/or the notion of land for peace, despite that approach seemingly having succeeded with the Israel/Egypt peace accord.

The second recollection was later in the day, as we gathered around the Delaître television to see the news. The father, Jean Delaître, who was the head of the Mauritian Broadcasting Corporation, had been severely criticised by the opposition party for something or other to do with sport. I think it was to do with broadcasting a sport that wasn’t boycotting South African participants sufficiently and there was even a risk that Mauritius might be excluded from some pan-African games unless it complied, as a nation, more comprehensively in anti-apartheid boycotts. Something like that.

The reason I recall it so clearly is that the news broadcast explained the story one way and then a few minutes later, when Jean Delaître got home, he explained the story from his own perspective, not least the complex web of interests and opinions he needed to try to accommodate whenever he makes a decision. I remember finding that experience very interesting and enlightening. I also clearly remember thinking that it was far too elaborate a story to write up in one of my letters.